FACULTY OF HUMANITIES AND SOCIAL SCIENCES
SCHOOL OF HISTORY, PHILOSOPHY, POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL
RELATIONS
POLITICAL SCIENCE AND INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS PROGRAMME
INTP261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
20 POINTS
TRIMESTER 2 2016
Key dates
Trimester dates: 11 July to 13 November 2016
Teaching dates: 11 July to 16 October 2016
Mid-trimester break: 22 August to 4 September 2016
Study period: 17–20 October 2016
Examination/Assessment Period: 21 October to 12 November 2016
Note: students who enrol in courses with examinations must be able to attend an examination at
the University at any time during the scheduled examination period.
Withdrawal dates: Refer to www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/withdrawals-refunds.
If you cannot complete an assignment or sit a test in the last three weeks of teaching, or an
examination, it may instead be possible to apply for an aegrotat (refer to
www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/exams/aegrotats).
Class times and locations
Lectures: Tuesday and Thursday 10:00-10:50
Venue: Maclaurin MCLT102
Tutorials
Weekly from the second week of term. Sign up via myAllocator.
Please see the Academic Timetable 2016 www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/timetables.
Names and contact details
Course Coordinator: Xavier Marquez
Room No: MY541
Phone: 463-5889
Email: [email protected]
Office hours: by appointment (available most days at reasonable hours when not teaching)
I sometimes write on themes relevant to the course at http://abandonedfootnotes.blogspot.com
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INTP 261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
Trimester 2 2016
Communication of additional information
This course uses Blackboard and presumes that all enrolled students have valid myvuw.ac.nz
addresses. Please check that this account is active and you have organised email forwarding.
Additional information and any changes to the timetable or lecture and tutorial programme will be
advised by email, announced in lectures, and posted on the course Blackboard site.
Prescription
This course surveys the historical and philosophical development of international relations theory
and political theory. It will examine foundational texts drawn from thinkers across the range of
western political theory, from ancient Greece to the twentieth century.
Course content
This course aims to introduce students to the development of western ideas about international
affairs. It explores such themes as the justice or injustice of war, the nature of sovereignty,
international law and the place of power in international life, and ethical obligations across borders,
through a broad historical survey of some of the classic texts of western political theory. These
texts address questions concerning the ultimate causes of human conflict and the best approaches
for dealing with such conflict. The course thus aims to provide students with a basic grasp of the
ideas that have shaped and continue to shape current thought and practice in international
relations, while increasing their ability to interpret and critically engage with these ideas in context.
The course follows a broadly chronological discussion of ideas about international affairs in the
Western tradition of political thought, starting with Ancient Greece, moving on to discuss Medieval
and Renaissance ideas, the Enlightenment, and various thinkers of the 19th century. The
chronological approach should help students understand the sources of our current ideas about
international affairs as well as some important challenges to these ideas that have been historically
significant.
These ideas, however, are also thematically grouped. We will thus discuss ancient Greek ideas
about the nature of politics, medieval ideas about just war, new conceptions of politics in the early
modern era, and 18th and 19th century ideas about democracy and intervention and about the
possibility of perpetual peace.
Lectures will place this material in historical context, explain some of the more difficult passages,
and provide the intellectual scaffolding for making connections among these disparate thinkers and
applying their ideas to concrete cases. However, students are expected to actively participate in
the construction of their own knowledge by taking part in class discussions and activities, during
both the lectures and the scheduled tutorials.
A full schedule of lectures will be available on Blackboard.
Course learning objectives (CLOs)
Students who pass this course should be able to:
1. be familiar with some of the main ideas about international affairs in the Western canon of
political theory
2. trace the basic development of these ideas in the Western tradition and to describe their
context
3. draw on classic texts and on concrete historical examples to make cogent arguments about
such topics as:
a. The nature of political community
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INTP 261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
Trimester 2 2016
b.
c.
d.
4.
The justice of war
The nature of sovereignty and political authority
The possibility and desirability of democracy in various cultural contexts, as well as the
ethics of intervention for purposes of democracy promotion
e. The possibility and desirability of “perpetual peace”
make useful comparisons between contrasting views by various thinkers on any of these
topics.
Teaching format
This course is taught by means of two weekly lectures of one hour each, one weekly tutorial of one
hour, and an online component (primarily on the course website on Blackboard).
The lectures clarify and expand on the ideas of the writers we discuss in the course, and they
provide the historical background necessary to understand the texts. The lectures may include
interactive exercises, such as formal debates, and reasonable participation is expected.
Tutorials provide the opportunity to critically discuss enduring ideas about conflict and see how
these ideas help us make sense of current issues and debates. Participation in tutorials, though
not a mandatory course requirement, is therefore highly encouraged.
The online component of the course consists of weekly participation in a course discussion board.
This ensures that the student will be generally engaged with the material covered in class and able
to relate it to current events.
Workload
In accordance with University Guidelines, this course assumes students will devote 200 hours to
the course throughout the trimester. The 200 hour total includes weekly attendance at lectures
and tutorials, completion of weekly readings, and research and writing for set assessment tasks.
The suggested workload outlined below assumes an average native English-speaking student.
Some students will take longer while others will take less time (in terms of absolute number of
hours) when completing different activities.
Per week (average)
Lecture attendance: 2 hours
Tutorial attendance: 1 hour
Discussion board: 1 hour
Completing required reading: 4 hours
Completing assignments/studying for the examination: 8.6 hours (note: amount of time spent on
assignments/studying will vary from week to week)
Total: 16.6 hours
To consider when planning your time:


Tutorial and lecture preparation requires careful reading of the texts for meaning and
argument, as well as note-taking. Many of the readings in this course are difficult; they will
demand substantial attention and preparation. ‘Budget’ for at least three or four hours per
reading, including additional internet research to help understand the historic and/or
historiographical context of readings.
Essays and other written assignments require time to locate, retrieve and read a range of
sources. Note-taking, planning, drafting and editing the draft are necessary before writing a
final version. Begin assignments early.
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INTP 261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
Trimester 2 2016

Revision and preparation for the final examination should reflect the fact that it is worth 30%
of your course mark.
Assessment
Assessment for this course has three major components:
1. Two out of five possible short essays, of about 2000 words, due on the dates specified below
(50%, or 25% each). You may submit all five essays (or however many you wish to submit);
your grade for this component will consist of the grades for your two best essays. You MUST,
however, turn in a good faith effort for one of the first two essays (opportunity 1 or 2
listed below) and for one of the last three (opportunities 3-5) in order for this condition
to apply. Turning in only essays for the first two or the last three opportunities will be
considered as having only turned in one essay. (Learning objectives 1-4).
2. Discussion board contributions (20%). You need to contribute weekly to the discussion board,
starting on the second week of the course. These contributions are due every Thursday before
the lecture (i.e., before 10:00). See below for more detail. (Learning objectives 1, 3)
3. A two hour, cumulative final examination during the examination period (30%). (Learning
objectives 1-2)
Assessment items and workload per item
%
CLO(s)
Due date
1
2 out of a possible 5 essays (about 2000 words each),
25% each.
50%
1-4
See below
2
Discussion board contributions
20%
1, 3
Weekly,
beginning on
the 2nd week
of term
3
Final examination (2 hours)
30%
1, 2
Examination
period
Short essays
There are five possible opportunities for submitting short essays of about 2000 words – 8 or 9
double-spaced pages. (I am flexible about the word count, but it should normally be around that
amount).
These essays test your familiarity with the thinkers we are studying in this course and your ability
to read them critically and apply their insights. They also test your ability to write a coherent
argument and defend a particular interpretive position with textual and other evidence. A rubric with
marking criteria will be made available on Blackboard.
The topics for these essays are listed and described in detail on Blackboard; make sure to look
there before beginning to write your essay!
The due dates are as follows:
First half (turn in at least one of these):
 Essay opportunity 1: Ancient conceptions of politics. Due date: Friday 12 August by
midnight, via the appropriate link on Blackboard. Topics are listed there.
 Essay opportunity 2: Just war in medieval political theory. Due date: Friday 19
August by midnight, via the appropriate link on Blackboard. Topics are listed there.
Second half (turn in at least one of these):
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INTP 261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
Trimester 2 2016



Essay opportunity 3: New conceptions of politics. Due date: Friday 16 September by
midnight, via the appropriate link on Blackboard. Topics are listed there.
Essay opportunity 4: The state of nature. Due date: Friday 23 September by midnight,
via the appropriate link on Blackboard. Topics are listed there.
Essay opportunity 5: History, progress, and perpetual peace. Due date: Friday 14
October by midnight, via the appropriate link on Blackboard. Topics are listed there.
Discussion board contributions
Studies show that the best ways to learn are active, participatory and social, rather than passive
and purely individual. Studies also show that the best way to learn course material and participate
effectively in class discussions is to remain engaged with such material over the course of the term
rather than to cram at the end for an exam or an essay. In order to further these objectives, this
course requires weekly contributions to an online discussion board, due before lecture each
Thursday at 10:00, starting on the second week of the term.
Like any discussion board, the course discussion board is fairly informal. Not every posting needs
to raise a question, though you may wish to raise questions about class content; and your
contributions can be in comments to other people's postings. You can, for example:
 Raise questions about issues that are unclear from the class
 Comment on, and link to, articles relevant to the discussions in the class
 Raise issues that you think ought to be discussed in class
 Discuss possible answers to various study questions raised by the instructor
 Summarise parts of the readings, and raise questions about them
The instructor will be contributing to the discussion board frequently, but the main responsibility is
on the students to make it a useful learning resource. The instructor will also use the issues raised
in the discussion board for tutorial discussions or address them in lecture.
Your contributions will be assessed on a weekly basis, according to the following scheme:




0 points. No contribution to the discussion board, or extremely poor quality contribution
1 point. Minimal contribution (e.g., minimal comment on another person's post in the
discussion board, discussion board posts that do not show that you have done the reading
or that are not sufficiently on topic)
2 points. Regular contributions (e.g., contributing study questions, answers to study
questions, and other substantial contributions to the discussion board, raising or answering
interesting questions in the discussion board, posts showing that you have done the
reading for the week, summaries of parts of the reading, etc.). Almost any on-topic
contribution should receive 2 points.
3 points. Exceptional contributions (e.g., excellent study questions or answers, outstanding
participation in the discussion board, posts making an unusually perceptive point about one
of the readings for the week, etc.). More is not necessarily better! Adding posts does
not guarantee that you will receive 3 points; “exceptional” here is about quality, not
quantity.
You need to accumulate 24 points over the course of the trimester to obtain a perfect 20% mark for
this assessment component, starting in the second week of the term. On average, therefore, you
need to be accumulating a bit more than 2 points per week for a perfect score (there are eleven
opportunities for participation), though you may miss a week occasionally without materially
affecting your grade. You will be given credit for all contributions you make; so, for example, if you
end the term with 19 points, this will translate into 19*20/24 = 15.8% of your final grade.
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INTP 261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
Trimester 2 2016
Submission and return of work
All work for this course is submitted electronically to Blackboard. NO PAPER COPIES OF
ASSESSMENT ITEMS WILL BE COLLECTED OR ACCEPTED; if you are unsure about whether
an electronic copy of your work has been received, e-mail the instructor for confirmation.
IT IS ALSO YOUR RESPONSIBILITY TO ENSURE THAT ALL FILES SUBMITTED TO
BLACKBOARD ARE READABLE; if a file cannot be opened, it will be counted as “not submitted”
and late penalties may be applied until a readable version of the assignment is submitted. If you
are in doubt about readable file formats, submit your work as a PDF or Word file.
All essays will be returned electronically with comments within a reasonable time, via Blackboard.
Note that we reserve the right to check any assessable work via Turnitin.com (see
www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/wiki/index.php/Turnitin)
Extensions and penalties
Extensions
Requests for extensions should be made with the lecturer in person or via e-mail with proper
documentation before the due date. Extensions are normally given only to those with evidence that
forces beyond their control are affecting their ability to complete work on time.
Penalties
Students will be penalised for late submission of assignments – a deduction of 5% for the first
day late, and 2% per day thereafter, up to a maximum of 8 days. Work that is more than 10
weekdays late can be accepted for mandatory course requirements but may not be marked.
Penalties may be waived if there are valid grounds (for example, illness or similar other
contingencies). In all such cases, prior information will be necessary. Extensions on deadlines for
written work will only be granted under exceptional circumstances.
Set texts
All essential readings are available as a downloadable PDF file via Blackboard (all of them are in
the public domain). The key readings are selections from:
 Thucydides, History of the Peloponnessian War, also available at
http://classicpersuasion.org/pw/thucydides/thucydides-jowetttoc-b.htm
 Plato, Laws, also available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/1750
 Aristotle, Politics, also available at http://classics.mit.edu/Aristotle/politics.html
 Aquinas, Summa Theologiae, available at http://www.newadvent.org/summa/
 Vitoria, On the American Indians and the Law of War, also available at
http://www.constitution.org/victoria/victoria_.htm
 Erasmus, Against War, also available at http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/39487
 Machiavelli, The Prince and Discourses on Livy, also available at
http://www.constitution.org/mac/prince00.htm and
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/m/machiavelli/niccolo/m149d/
 Hobbes, Leviathan, also available at https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/3207
 Rousseau, Second Discourse on the Origins of Inequality, also available at
http://records.viu.ca/~Johnstoi/rousseau/seconddiscourse.htm
 Kant, Perpetual Peace, also available at http://www.constitution.org/kant/perpeace.htm
 Hegel, The Philosophy of Right, also available at
http://www.marxists.org/reference/archive/hegel/works/pr/prconten.htm
 Marx, Economic and Philosophical Manuscripts of 1844, also available at
https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1844/manuscripts/preface.htm
 Marx and Engels, The Communist Manifesto, also available at
http://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/index.htm
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INTP 261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
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

Mill, Considerations on Representative Government, also available at
http://ebooks.adelaide.edu.au/m/mill/john_stuart/m645r/
Mill, A Few Words on Non-intervention, also available at
http://oll.libertyfund.org/title/255/21666
Copies of Rousseau’s Political Writings, Kant’s Perpetual Peace and Writings, Machiavelli’s The
Prince and Aristotle’s Politics will also be available for purchase at Vicbooks.
Recommended reading
Articles and books useful for understanding the authors and topics studied in this course are listed
here: http://www.citeulike.org/user/xmarquez/tag/pols261. You may wish to use some of these when
writing your essays. In addition, Alan Ryan’s two volume work, On Politics: A History of Political
Thought from Herodotus to the Present, is an excellent reference for most of the thinkers we will
cover in this course. This work will be made available via closed reserve at the library.
Class representative
The class representative provides a useful way to communicate feedback to the teaching staff
during the course. A class representative will be selected at the first lecture of the course.
Student feedback
This course has received very positive student feedback in previous years. Based on this
feedback, there has been some adjustment to the grading rubrics, essay topics, and tutorial
activities this year.
Student feedback on University courses may be found at
www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/feedback/feedback_display.php.
Other important information
The information above is specific to this course. There is other important information that students
must familiarise themselves with, including:
 Academic Integrity and Plagiarism: www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/exams/integrityplagiarism
 Academic Progress: www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/progress/academic-progess
(including restrictions and non-engagement)
 Dates and deadlines: www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/dates
 FHSS Student and Academic Services Office: www.victoria.ac.nz/fhss/student-admin
 Grades: www.victoria.ac.nz/students/study/progress/grades
 Special passes: refer to the Assessment Handbook, at
www.victoria.ac.nz/documents/policy/staff-policy/assessment-handbook.pdf
 Statutes and policies including the Student Conduct Statute:
www.victoria.ac.nz/about/governance/strategy
 Student support: www.victoria.ac.nz/students/support
 Students with disabilities: www.victoria.ac.nz/st_services/disability
 Student Charter: www.victoria.ac.nz/learning-teaching/learning-partnerships/student-charter
 Subject Librarians: http://library.victoria.ac.nz/library-v2/find-your-subject-librarian
 Terms and conditions: www.victoria.ac.nz/study/apply-enrol/terms-conditions/studentcontract
 Turnitin: www.cad.vuw.ac.nz/wiki/index.php/Turnitin
 University structure: www.victoria.ac.nz/about/governance/structure
 Victoria graduate profile: www.victoria.ac.nz/learning-teaching/learningpartnerships/graduate-profile
 VUWSA: www.vuwsa.org.nz
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INTP 261: Political Philosophy and International Relations
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